Excuses
by DannyTheDapper
Summary: Oneshot. Mr. Lancer has always seen Danny Fenton as a mystery, but when he finds out something about him, his perspective on him will forever be changed.


**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Danny Phantom. Italics are thoughts and book titles.**

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Mr. Lancer boredly sat in his desk at the front of the classroom as students filed in, chattering about random things he didn't care about.

Like them, he didn't really want to be here, but work was work, and he needed to get some bread in the basket.

He was about to look back at the miscellaneous papers on his desk when he saw Danny Fenton walk in. He always stuck out to him, as he was a enigma. Originally, at the beginning of the year, he thought he was a good kid. Not a straight A student, for sure, but he paid attention and it looked like he tried to do well.

However, all that changed one fateful day. Suddenly, he looked distracted all the time, failed quizzes and tests, and made numerous "bathroom breaks." His sister, who had much better grades than him, always talked to him about how she was concerned for her brother, but after a while, she stopped talking about it.

When he asked, she immediately tried to dismiss it and changed to another, citing that Danny was just going through "puberty."

Now, he wasn't a biology major in college, but he was pretty sure that's NOT how puberty worked. Something had to be causing this sudden shift in demeanor, but he couldn't figure it out. All he noticed was that his change in demeanor started when the new hero of Amity Park, Danny Phantom, came around.

However, he assumed that was a coincidence, and that Danny was just distracted by Phantom, possibly because of their identical first name.

Danny friends, Sam and Tucker, then came in, and they immediately started chatting with Danny like the rest of their fellow classmates. However, once the bell rang, it was almost like Danny became another person.

This rang true when he quieted the students for the lesson today. He was going to lecture about the reading they were supposed to do last night: Chapters 1-3 of Jane Austen's _Pride and Prejudice_. He taught both Pre-AP and Academic classes at Casper High, so he had to juggle two books at the same time ( _Pride and Prejudice_ and _Fahrenheit 451_ ). However, it didn't bother him, as he had read these books many times; English was his passion.

Currently, he was teaching his Pre-AP class. He kept a close eye on Danny as he sat, currently looking relatively attentive. He knew, however, as the lesson went on, he would become fidgety.

"Okay, class, I hope you all have read Chapters 1 to 3 of Jane Austen's _Pride and Prejudice_."

Nervous laughter sounded across the classroom. He sighed. That probably meant that they didn't read it.

"I'm going to take that as a yes. Now, can someone explain what the significance of the quote, 'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife?'"

A nerdy kid by the name of Nathan at the front of the class responded first. "It reveals that Mr. Bingley is arriving at Netherfield, right?"

Mr. Lancer nodded. That was partially true. "Yes, however, it also has higher significance." He waited in awkward silence as no one else volunteered to answer. Sighing, he scanned the room to see who to call on. Seeing Danny staring blankly out of a window (he had to remember to move him to an interior desk), he called on him.

"Mr. Fenton!"

Danny immediately jolted towards Mr. Lancer in shock, to the laughter of his fellow classmates. Mr. Lancer sighed. Right, after his change in demeanor, he's been getting more flighty.

"Yes, Mr. Lancer?"

Well, at least he was receptive. "Can you explain further the significance of the quote mentioned earlier?"

Danny looked nervous and sweated, "Um, what quote was it?"

Mr. Lancer rolled his eyes as Danny's classmates laughed harder. "It's the one on the first page, Mr. Fenton."

"Oh, right." He was silent as he flipped to the page. "Uh…the quote represents the English society Elizabeth Bennet lived in, and summarizes the book in a way as she is pressured by her mom to find a rich man to marry?"

That was…a surprisingly good job. "...Right, Mr. Fenton."

Danny looked visibly relieved as Mr. Lancer went about his lesson, calling on random students to answer questions about the reading.

While he was answering a student's question about what Netherfield was, he didn't see a blue wisp come out of Danny's mouth. He did, however, notice Danny's sudden change in temperament as he raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Fenton?"

Mr. Lancer could see that Danny was nervously sweating as he constantly glanced at the window. "Can I use the restroom?"

Mr. Lancer sighed. Here was one of those "bathroom breaks." Danny had almost, without fail, gone to the restroom every day of the week during his class. "Mr. Fenton, you have gone plenty of times already this week. I think you can wait-" He checked the clock in his classroom. "5 minutes."

Danny looked downtrodden as Mr. Lancer continued his lesson. He slowly tried to sneak out of his desk to get away, but Mr. Lancer saw this and was not pleased, to say the least.

"Mr. Fenton, sit DOWN!"

"But Mr. Lancer, I-"

Alright, it was time to get to the bottom of this. Trying to escape his classroom was too far. "Mr. Fenton, I'd like to see you after class."

Danny sat back down, furiously blushing as his classmates laughed at him, his friends giving him sympathetic looks.

The five minutes passed quickly as the bell rang, and his students got up to leave the classroom.

"Remember, watch the 2005 film adaptation and fill out the viewing guide for extra credit!" Mr. Lancer yelled as they left.

He then turned his attention to Danny Fenton as he approached him, looking sullen and stressed. He had been nervously glancing at the window during the last 5 minutes, and Mr. Lancer was determined to know what was up.

Once all the students had left, Mr. Lancer shut the door and looked at Danny sternly. "Mr. Fenton, I'm not trying to antagonize you, you know that, right?"

"Sure seems like it…" Danny grumbled.

Mr. Lancer ignored the remark as he sat down at his desk, gesturing for Danny to sit on a chair he had pulled up. Danny sat down on it as Mr. Lancer talked.

"You know, Mr. Fenton, you seemed like a decent kid when you first came in my door. You looked like you paid attention in my class, and you started out with an A." Mr. Lancer started. "Then, something happened; now, you fail my tests, you are constantly distracted during my class, and you ask for multiple bathroom breaks when you could go before or after my class."

Danny said nothing as he looked down in shame.

Taking that as a cue to continue on, Mr. Lancer started talking again. "Is there something bothering you that I need to know about? Your sister cites puberty, but I know that's not what's going on."

Danny didn't seem in the mood to divulge anything. He decided to piggyback on his sister's excuse. "Well, uh, how can you know that's not true?" Danny questioned.

"Because, Mr. Fenton, I don't think 'puberty' would cause a likeable student to plummet to the lowest of the low." Mr. Lancer stated. "Look, I may not seem like the kind of guy you would want to talk to, but something is definitely bothering you, and if you explain it to me, I may be a bit more sympathetic concerning your behavior."

Danny didn't really seem convinced until Mr. Lancer added: "Which would probably result in less detentions."

He was about to say something until the same blue wisp came out of his mouth. This time, Mr. Lancer noticed and was about to comment on it.

Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from the hallway, mixed with students' screams. Both were shocked by the sound and were worried. Danny immediately stood up and looked towards the door.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lancer, but I gotta go…" With that, Danny took off running.

Shocked, Mr. Lancer quickly tried to pursue him. "Mr. Fenton! Get back here!" He maneuvered around students as they ran away. Coming to his senses, Mr. Lancer realized what was going on. It was a ghost attack.

Danny rounded a corner towards an empty hallway. Knowing that Danny would take off running if he saw him, Mr. Lancer stayed on the other side of the corner, peeking his head around.

Danny, thinking the coast was clear, yelled "Going ghost!" as he transformed into Phantom right before Mr. Lancer's very eyes. The teacher's jaw immediately dropped as he almost fainted from shock.

" _THE GREAT GATSBY!_ " Mr. Lancer yelled.

Danny Fenton, now Danny Phantom, whirled his head around at the book exclamation, and was immediately mortified when he saw Mr. Lancer staring at him in utter disbelief, his jaw still slack. Knowing he wouldn't have time to explain, he quickly shot off in pursuit of the ghost wreaking havoc on his school while Mr. Lancer stared on in shock.

That explains why Danny Fenton had his change in demeanor around the same time Danny Phantom emerged. Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom were so similar; how could no one have figured it out?

He had no time to think about it any longer as a giant green ghost smashed into the hallway he was standing in. Horrified, he was frozen in shock as Danny Phantom came in after the ghost, trying to subdue it so he could suck it into the Fenton Thermos.

"Mr. Lancer, RUN!" He yelled as he got hit by the ghost, smashing into a bunch of lockers.

Mr. Lancer, however, did not heed his orders as he continued on staring, frozen, like a deer caught in headlights. Danny got back up and barraged the ghost with ghost rays, growling. His efforts paid off as the ghost groaned in pain, slumping against the wall.

Danny quickly utilized this break in combat to take out the Fenton Thermos, sucking the ghost in before it could get back up. It howled as it was sucked in, continuing to do so until it was fully inside, smoke rising out of the Fenton Thermos.

Danny reverted to his human form as he sighed, stuffing the Fenton Thermos in his backpack until he realized that Mr. Lancer was still there. They stared at each other in shock.

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes until Danny spoke.

"So, you saw everything, huh?"

Mr. Lancer slowly nodded. "Yes, I did." He took a deep breath so he would sound collected as he spoke. "How long has this been going on, Mr. Fenton?"

"A few months." Danny said, trying to remain calm. "Accident in the lab."

"Elaborate?" Mr. Lancer prodded.

"Well, my friends and I were hanging out in my parents' lab. Sam thought it'd be cool if I took a picture inside the new Ghost Portal they built. So I put on a protective suit, the HAZMAT suit, and went in. However, I accidentally pushed the 'ON' switch and…"

He trailed off as he reminisced about that fateful day. "I got shocked by the Portal. Suddenly, my hair was white, my eyes were a glowing green, and my HAZMAT suit had inverted colors. Apparently, the shock had infused my DNA with ectoplasm, which caused me to become half-ghost."

"How come you never told anyone? Well, besides your friends."

"Because my parents are ghost hunters; what happens if they find out and try to kill me? My sister Jazz found out the same way you did, but she understands."

 _That explains why she never comes to me to talk about Danny anymore…_ "Ah, right," was all that Mr. Lancer could really say at the moment.

"Mr. Lancer?" Danny asked.

"Yes, Mr. Fenton?" He acknowledged almost automatically.

"Can you promise to never tell my parents about this?" Danny pleaded.

Mr. Lancer understood where the boy was coming from; if he were in the same position, he would never tell his parents, lest they try to kill him. He nodded. "I promise. I guess I can now understand why you need to go to the restroom so much."

Danny nervously laughed. "Yep."

Mr. Lancer returned to his stern demeanor as he finally got over residual shock. "This doesn't mean I will go easy on you in terms of grading, though. It's your responsibility to study, got it?"

Danny nodded. He WAS using ghost fighting as a guise for not studying anyway. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Suddenly the loudspeaker came on, announcing that school would be cancelled for the rest of the day as a result of the ghost attack.

Mr. Lancer looked back at Danny as the announcement ended. "Go home, Danny. Also, feel free to tell your friends and your sister that I know your…" He trailed off as he had to state what was reality, no matter how much he didn't want to believe it. "Secret."

Danny nodded in acknowledgement as he ran off along with other students, trying to find his sister.

Mr. Lancer found that his legs were trembling as he slowly walked back to his classroom to gather his things before leaving. As he gathered his things, he had one thing on his mind: he was now, for sure, going to be giving a lot less detentions to Danny.

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 **Finally got this fanfiction done on time! Please let me know what y'all think in the reviews; I really appreciate them.**


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